LAKERS -vs- THUNDER - 10/24 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Sigh of Relief... Laker fans can breathe easy once again. After sitting a game out with the hyperextended knee, Kobe ran a brief stint to start the game. The Lakers played the remaining 40 minutes without the MVP and went on to the 105-94 win over the Seattle, er, Oklahoma City Thunder.

The press seemed to wonder why Kobe was playing. "When a guy's played for as long as this guy's played for, he understands his body and knows what he's about," Phil answered in the Times. "If he wants to try it out, you let him do it."

Kobe wore a soft brace on the knee, but looked fluid on the court. "Just making sure the rhythm was good, make sure the knee was good. This way I don't have to go out on Tuesday and experiment with it," Kobe said. "It felt good. It felt fine."

As for the game, the Lakers finally unleashed their Bynum attack. They worked a number of two-man sequences or extra passes into his hands for easy scores. Drew also anchored the defense like a dominant bigman, disrupting shots all night.

And with that, we prepare for the season opener with the Blazers and Bynum vs. Oden. Should be great.


Kobe -- -- He ran 8 minutes straight to start the game, then sat for Sasha. He looked pretty fluid, but didn't do anything overly aggressive. He sat the rest of the night after that stint. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-3 shooting, all threes, to go with 1 board, 1 assist and no fouls in 8 minuts. The Action: He swished a three straight away on his first attempt. He swished a wing three on the next trip down. Sweet attack, faking to Bynum on the left and going to Gasol on the right for the And-1 (scary options for an opponent). He missed a three badly on his next attempt. Second Half: Did not play, despite several chants of "Kobe" from the Ontario crowd.

Gasol -- -- Watching him and Bynum work together this season is going to be fun. They seem to grow with every game and a new passing sequence seems to show up. Some of these will become regular passing schemes as they become more and more familiar with the read and reacts. Defensively, they are going to plug the lanes up and make things very difficult down the stretch for opponents. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-5 shooting (3-5 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 22 minutes. The Action: He scored an And-1 layup on the Kobe drive and dish, he missed the FT. So nice...he spunbackdoor, took the lob and touch passed to Drew for the And-1. He flashed to the FT line, instead of shooting, he hit Bynum again and it led to a score (Bynum missed the first layup). He challenged a shot, kept running, he got the pass and dunked. He missed a turnaround. He was fouled on an in-bounds pass, he made one FT. He missed a turnaround over his man. Second Half: He completely lost his man on a quick spin as soon as he caught the entry pass, he made an easy layup off it. He got caught in the air and threw a pass away next time down. He drew FTs trying to throw down when Lamar dropped a pass off to him, he made both.

Bynum -- -- That's our true center. He was a presence on both ends. He was a man among boys against the Thunder bigmen. Unlike the previous game where he wasn't utilized well, the Laker players must have got the memo because they were looking for him early and often. They did a much better job incorporating him into the offensive flow. DFish showed some more of that chemistry, but Pau was the one to start setting the table for him. Some excellent passing sequences from Gasol. "Pau and myself have been establishing a nice high-low game," Bynum said. "More to come." Bynum played an 11-minute stint to start the game and got some extra run in this one. His conditioning looked very good. Glad he got some good run before the next one. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 10-15 shooting (3-7 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 29 minutes. The Action: He sent Durant's shot flying with a nice rejection on the penetration. He picked Watson on a switch out on the perimeter to ignite a breakaway. He scored an And-1 layup off a touch pass from Pau on a lob, he made the FT. He took the high-low from Gasol, missed, got it back and scored. He dunked in the lob pass from DFish. Out of a timeout, he got sandwiched by a double team and drew FTs trying to shoot over them, he made one. He dunked when Fish pulled up at the elbow and lobbed to him. He got hit on a left-hander with no call and missed way short. He was called for a charge when his man flopped. He was blocked off the pass from Lamar, looked like a foul on his arm (no love right now). He worked the two-man game with Luke, took the alley-oop and softly put it in. He drop-stepped baseline and was fouled on a lefty jumphook, he missed both FTs. He drew FTs trying to power up after an offensive board, he made one. He altered several shots under the hoop on one defensive stand until we finally recovered it. He threw down the lob pass from Vlad in a scramble play off a steal. He had 15 points on 5-9 shooting in the half. Second Half: He had to rush a turnaround with the shotclock low and missed. He missed a short left-handed hook from just a couple feet out. With a little more time to work, he faked right, spun left and stretched out to hit the short jumphook. He took the high entry pass from Lamar, gatherd himself and scored the easy layup. He swatted Petro from the side to save a dunk. He ran the center sprint to the front of the rim, sealed his man, took the pass and dunked. He hit one of those Kobe-like turnarounds from the steep angle behind the backboard on the right baseline with 2 seconds left in the third. He didn't play in the fourth.

Radmanovic -- -- Well-rounded game on both ends from Vlad. He was moving the ball particularly well tonight and was in on some of the better passing sequences of the game. Defensively, he was also disruptive in the backcourt with the occasional suprise trap. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting, all threes, to go with 5 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 24 minutes. The Action: He missed a three on the first play of the game. He swished a corner three in transition. He drew a clear-out foul on Westbrook in the backcourt. He missed a corner three. He swished a rainbow three from the wing. Great play by Vlad to deflect a pass in the backcourt, DFish then swung it to him and Vlad didn't hesitate to hit Bynum under the hoop for the throw down. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Fisher -- -- DFish looked more like a true point in this game than he has in a long time: finishing on the break, lobbing to his bigman, breaking off his man with sick handles, as well as hitting his usual pull-up jumpers. Who was that out there? Great game. The chemistry with Bynum also continues to shine. With defenders having to respect Fish's jumper off those screens and Bynum looking to roll, we should see a lot more of that all season. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-10 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 5 assists, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 24 minutes. The Action: He faked the jumper and hit Bynum for the lob dunk, very nice. He missed an early offense jumper. He missed a wing jumper off the Pau handoff. He attacked to his right, pulled up at the elbow and hit. Next time down, he pulled up at the elbow off the Bynum screen and lobbed to Bynum for the throwdown. He worked off the Bynum screen and hit the 16-footer. Wow, sweet behind-the-back crossover to lose Watson, he then attacked the open lane and hit the And-1 off the glass, he made the FT. He went to the floor to recover a loose ball on the D end, then hit the wing jumper with a toe on the three line. He missed the heatcheck next time down. Second Half: He took contact with no call and missed. He missed a runner in traffic. He picked up a tech for saying something to an official. Very nice pushout on the break, he weaved his way through the seams and scored a layup.

Lamar -- -- Lamar had his versatility stretched a little more in this game. Phil put him in Kobe's spot in the second half. After some awkward sequences, we eventually started to click against the struggling Thunder team. It looked like he made a little more of an effort to find Bynum in this game. The chemistry between those two has yet to really form, but we saw a couple good moments tonight. Keep it coming. He was much more consistenly active in this game versus the slow start the last time out. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-6 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 21 minutes. The Action: He clanked a wing three on his first attempt. He drew FTs in the post and made both. He hit a face-up wing jumper with the shotclock low next time down. Poor pass off the pinch post and it resulted in transition points the other way. He missed a baseline jumper at the end of the first quarter. He swiped a pass in the middle of the lane and it led to a breakaway score. He clanked a wing jumper. Second Half: He tossed a high entry pass up for Bynum, he gathered it and scored. He telegraphed a pass and picked up his fourth foul contesting the breakaway. He attacked, drew the D and dished to Pau who was fouled for FTs. From the right wing, he faked right, attacked left and stretched out under the D and flipped in the layup. He sank a 21-foot catch and shoot on the next possesion. He deflected a pass to create a break opportunity. He hit Bynum in the paint with the post entry for a dunk.

Ariza -- -- Well, after putting together good perimeter shooting numbers all preseason, Ariza had a setback game tonight that will impact those totals. He went 1-5 from outside, putting his preseason total at 8-21 or 38 percent. It's a small sample size, but I think the team would probably be satisfied with those types of perimeter numbers. He did an excellent job on the boards tonight, looking like a bigman on some rebounds. His stats certainly reflected that. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-11 shooting (0-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 27 minutes. The Action: He trailed Farmar on the break, took the back pass and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He missed a sideline three. He stepped back and missed a three with the shotclock low. He exploded off the pinch post from Luke and threw down over Green for the And-1, he made the FT. He swished a 19-footer off the pinch post with Vlad. Second Half: He was blocked on a reverse dunk attempt (should have been a foul). He missed a three with the shotclock low. He missed a turnaround jumper. He choked an oop from Farmar he should have had. He scored a layup off Farmar's pushout of the break (again, he got down the floor in a hurry).

Farmar -- -- A little turnover prone as the stats will show, but he still put together an impact game. He needed to reel in a few of those passes, but Westbrook also played some very good D on him. Great preseason for Farmar. His apparent growth this preseason makes the Lakers tougher than a lot of opponents and press may realize. Farmar is commanding the second unit and imposing his will on opponents. Hopefully, that's a trend that continues. He's throttling up the speed and looking to attack more. A lot of confidence in his game right now. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 7-9 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, 7 turnovers and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. The Action: He missed a reverse, Lamar got it back and fed him, Farmar ball-faked and hit the baseline jumper. He attacked off the pinch post, put the breaks on, then quickly spun around a bigger man completely losing him and he scored the layup. He hit Ariza with a no-looker on the break for the And-1. He attacked with speed to his right, took contact and still hit the baseline jumper with no call. He got caught in the air and flipped a pass over his head for a turnover and dunk the other way. He cleared out against Westbrook for an offesnive foul. He swiped a pass in the backcourt and threw down. He had 8 points in the first half. Second Half: With the shotclock low, he wheeled to his right and drained the mid-range wing jumper. He blew past his man on an inside-out dribble and scored off the glass on the layup. He turned the corner off the Mihm screen and scored the layup. He missed a wing three. He attacked and found Ariza for the layup. He got picked by Westbrook on the perimeter.

Vujacic -- -- Phil wanted to test The Machine with some good minutes in this game. Sasha got a healthy 23 minutes of run. His game was off on both ends and he may need a few more games to get his own preseason work in. Some wild attacks off the dribble. Hopefully, he can calibrate quickly. "There's a little bit of discomfort but no sharp pain, which is good," the Machine reported. "We were all hoping it'd kind of go away slowly. It's healing really fast." The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-5 shooting (1-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. The Action: After several minutes of court time, he finally took his first shot and promptly hit the side of the backboard. Second Half: He missed a baseline catch and shoot on an in-bounds pass. He provided an easy outlet for Farmar on the break, spotting up on the right side and knocking down the jumper (we will probably see a good deal of that all season). He found Luke for a corner three. He threw a bounce pass out of bounds trying to hit Mihm who wasn't ready for it. Sasha attacked on the break, drew the D and whipped a pass to Mihm (he must have thought Chris can catch like Bynum), but Mihm somehow held on and drew FTs. He scored a tech FT. He missed a wing jumper off the pinch post. He missed a pull-up from 21 feet out. He fouled a jumpshooter in front of the bench.

Mihm -- -- He started the fourth and got some run until hitting the ground extremely hard. I imagine he'll be sore tomorrow. How Phil uses Mihm will be interesting. He will have Pau run a lot of back-up center, but the more minutes he can steal with Mihm in the middle of rotations at the C spot, the more Pau and Bynum can play together. I imagine eventually he might try doing that in first halves, but keeping one of the starting bigs out there early in the fourth quarters unless we have a big lead. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 2-2 from the line to go with 1 board, 1 block and 2 fouls in 4 minutes. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: Nice swat, denying the dribble penetration. He was fouled when Sasha gave him a bullet on the break, he made both FTs. He got caught in the air and hit the floor hard, looked painful but he should be all right.

Luke -- -- A steady game again from Luke. He worked inside and out effectively. His perimeter shot looked mostly smooth (except for one bad brick). Again, a lot of fluidity to his game. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-8 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 foul in 20 minutes. The Action: He sank a wing jumper in early offense. He worked the screen-roll with Bynum and gave him a return lob for a score. Nice job stepping in on a cutter to draw an offensive foul. Second Half: He sank a sideline three off the Sasha pass. He missed in the post, got it back, and scored with the left. He missed off the glass trying to hit the step-back jumper. He hit a face-up 17-footer straight away.

Mbenga -- -- He came in for Mihm in the middle of the fourth. After picking up several fouls in just a couple minutes, Joel pondered where Travis Knight was, referencing Travis's notorious Laker game. Travis held the record for quickest foul out of an NBA playoff game, doing it in 6 minutes back in 1999. Mbenga held the line on the fouls. Not pretty, but it did add a little late-game chippiness to the affair. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting, had 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 8 minutes. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: He swatted penetration but drew the clear-out foul on an opponent first. He jarred Smith with an offensive foul in the post, then Smith picked up a T. He powered in a jumphook over Smith. Nice D on Green, forcing him to throw the ball away on the drive.

Sun Yue -- -- And the last basket of the Laker preseason goes to Sun Yue. He seemed pleased to finally hit a shot. It was on a nice move, too. He didn't get much of a preseason in with all the jitters. Next time around he may look a little more confident. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting, grabbed 3 boards, had 1 turnover and 1 foul in 4 minutes. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: He fouled Westbrook challenging his shot on the break. Nice baseline drive, but his pass was knocked away. He isolated on the right side, created off the dribble to his left, spun to his right and hit the short jumper.

Karl -- -- Not much action or impact from Karl in this game. The Stats: He didn't score or shoot, had 2 boards, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 6 minutes. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: He grabbed a couple boards, nothing else to report.

Phil -- -- A much more Bynum-oriented offensive attack tonight after the under-utilized attack in the previous game. "He did a really nice job, I thought, on the boards and blocking the lane," Phil said in the Times. "His offense was a big boost for us tonight."... After our typical starting unit and rotation, Phil brought in Sasha for Kobe. A minute later, he went with the Bynum, Lamar, Ariza, Sasha, Farmar lineup... He brought Pau in for Bynum with a minute left in the first... The Lakers led 30-22 after one quarter... He sat Lamar and Sasha at the 7:41 mark of the second quarter, going with a Pau, Vlad, Luke, Ariza, Farmar lineup... He brought in Bynum for Pau a minute later... Good sub to bring in Farmar with 5.4 seconds left in the half. Unfortunately, he never touched the ball... The Lakers led 63-53 at the half. Some superb passing sequences by L.A. in the half and it led to 18 assists with only 8 turnovers. The Lakers made 25-44 shots in the half... With Kobe not playing in the second half, Phil went with a Bynum, Pau, Lamar, Vlad, Fisher lineup. Haven't seen that one before. They struggled to figure out how to attack and were forced into several late shotclock attempts. After a few minutes, they eventually started to get into a groove... The Lakers led 87-75 heading into the fourth... The rest of the game was garbage-time minutes, but the second unit did their job holding onto the lead... The Lakers had 28 assists, but had 15 turnovers in the second half to pile up 23 for the game. The team shot 55 percent to the Thunder's 38 percent...

[George W Buss]

Third!!!!!
Thanks a lot, DB.
I managed to watch only the first half and missed the 2nd half

[10scott10]

phil liking bynum's game and effort= bynum is getting his contract

[lakerhead]

[PakaLOLO]

thankyou! Cant wait for the season to start.
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[chilake24]

thanks as always. did you catch what kobe said before game about the guitar commercial. did he say a rod was there shoot the commercial with him at his house?

[lakersfreak]

DB
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Forget carbon, reduce your government footprint

[MedRomLaker]

Thanks for the recap db great game, glad to see the team moving forward when it comes to chemistry and playing as a unit. Can't wait till the tues regular season starts and will finally get to see our team go all out.

P.S: What happened to the 1st two posters lol, I saw there posts, then I clicked refresh and they vanished.
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11/9/12 the day the brown was flushed down!!!!!!

4/30/14 the day the ant left the building!!!!!!

[LakerSanity]

Farmar + Bynum = our future.
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[KingKobe]

No one has mentioned yet we that ran 4(!!) 6'10+ players at once.

Bynum 7'1
Gasol 7'0
Odom 6'10
Rad 6'10
Fisher 6'1

Has anyone ever seen something like that before? Surely this Laker team is, at least, unique.

Also, DB, what do you think of Sun Yue overall? I posted in an earlier thread that although his skills are a bit rough, and mentally he doesn't seem quite prepared yet (a year away minimum), his movement for a 6'9 player was as good as advertised. There seemed to be several parts of the game where he held his own against point guards on D. Not amazingly fast, but solid for his size. Skills and strength can improve, but height, length, and quickness are usually things players either have or don't.
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*Warning: The preceding post may have contained sarcasm and/or irony.

"We're all surrounded by idiots." - Kobe Bryant

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB! It was great to see the big fella being fed. He could have easily gotten 30+. Last night he showed just a little $$$omething for the FO to think about.

Glad to see Kobe out there - he looks fine.
Glad to see the Machine out there pestering on defense.

But the move of the night was when Farmar had that hesitation spin move dribble on the baseline for a layup! Where did he get that from? Wow.

Great win last night. I deem them ready for the regular season.

[Sage_10]

Saw the game they played great. Nice recap DB!
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"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[Laker_Behemoth]

Drew + Jordan + Trevor + Sasha = Young Nucleus for the Next Decade

Got a ton of young talent on this squad supporting Kobe, Derek, Lamar, and Pau. Team looks ready to roll into the regular season.
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"After watching Bryant and Cooper go at it for about 10 minutes West stood up, nodded at two team public-relations men he'd brought with him, and snapped, 'That's it, let's get out of here, I've seen enough. He's better than anyone on our team.'"

[doven]

I'm still celebrating on that move made by SunYue

[machine24]

i stayed up for nothing!

[limchrc]

Thanks

[golakersgo121]

[LakerLanny]

I agree with you that The Machine needs to calibrate quickly.

The dropoff defensively was noticeable when he entered the game, they can't have the lazy D this year.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[20,000]

Oh, the OKC Thunder!! I thought they played a CBA to NBADL team.
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Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'

[GoldenThroat]

Nevermind!

[DancingBarry]

[Luca Brasi]

[DancingBarry]

[golakersgo121]

[Mation]

Thanks DB!

Bynum looks great with his conditioning. He deserves a nice birthday celebration for his progression and improvement in the preseason. Man o man, he will spell doom for some offenses this season. Just a defensive presence!

Hope those are consistent numbers from Ariza and Farmar off the bench. The double-double Bruin blurs.

Cannot wait for Tuesday! This is going to be a remarkable season!